Bipolar Disorder with Psychotic Features

[Mac1152]

My mom is diagnosed with bipolar disorder with psychotic features. She takes lithium, risperdal, and geodon. She claims they work well for her but she also claims there is a man stalking her. She has never seen him but she hears this voice often. This particular hallucination has persisted for at least 4 years. The voice does not bother her typically when my father and myself are present; however, it does talk to her when she's alone or not actively engaged in something. She also laughs to herself a lot but can not give a reasonable explanation for the laughter. She sees a psychiatrist (well the nurse typically) regularly and a therapist; but only the therapist knows about the voice. She has not told the psychiatrist about it. My question is, is there any hope that with a medication increase or change, that she will stop hearing the voice? Also, how common is bipolar disorder with auditory hallucinations?

[shawn47]

Bipolar frequently includes hallucinations, especially auditory.  Is your Mom freaked out about the voice?  Or is she blase about it?  I've had a ton of heebie-geebies that i've told my psych about, and he was surprisingly unconcerned.  Unconcerned as long as they remained tame, and I'm not hurting myself or anyone else.  He was more concerned about what drove the hallucinations to begin with, what the underlying cause was.  Pathology?  Hearing voices could just be a symptom of her illness. Maybe she's okay with her voice?  Maybe a meds change really isn't necessary.

[Daniellejohnson]

They are very common and litium is one of those medicines you have to be very careful with. Maybe she should try Ambilify and a low dose of prozac? That is what I take and it competely changed everything from black to white for me. It gave me more energy too. It is fairly new so you might not have heard of it till now but it really works. I cant believe they have her on lithium! Oh and I took Geodon for a year, it didn't work well for me at all!!! I was always tired. I wouldnt worry about the laughter though I laugh to myself all the time and dont know why lol. I'm not nuts trust me.  

[determined2beatit]

auditory hallucinations are common. Shawn is right, my Doc doesn't seem too worried if they are not bothering me so much, he put me on Geodon which works great. He also is more concerned as to what stress I might be under that is causing them to increase. Usually once the stress is reduced, along with the meds they improve. As for the laughing...look around, how many people do you see out there laughing and talking to themselves? A lot of people and they don't have bipolar.